Philips CDI 370 General Maintenance
No service manual for the Philips CDI 370 has been found. The notes below come from retrostuff's work-in-progress record of a partly dismantled unit and his notes on GoldStar-built portable CD-i players, which share the 370's board design.[1][2] Fault finding is on the Philips CDI 370 Troubleshooting Guide.
Power supply
[edit | edit source]The 370 takes two supply voltages through a 5-pin mini-DIN socket (CN102 on the main board): 21 V at 1.7 A and 5 V.[2][1] Three ways of powering a player without its original supply have been published:[2][3]
- Build a lead from a notebook supply with an output of at least 20 to 21 V and a USB socket: take +21 V and ground from the notebook output and +5 V from a USB cable, and wire them to a 5-pin mini-DIN plug. RetroVideoGames.de publishes the pin assignment; a 6-pin mini-DIN plug with the sixth pin removed also fits.
- Use a dual-port USB charger of 65 W or more: +20 V from the USB-C port through a USB-PD trigger module set to 20 V, and +5 V from the USB-A port. This was worked out on the Philips CD-i Community Discord server.
- Remove the battery and connect an 18 V supply directly to the battery terminals on the back, as suggested in the Philips CD-i Appreciation Facebook group.
Check the polarity and pin assignment of any home-made lead before connecting it to the player.
Inside, the power board 6870HA10LAA carries an LM2576 step-down regulator, an LP2950 regulator and a chip marked LGE GPI1200, which retrostuff tentatively identifies as a PIC16C73 microcontroller, with a 30-way connector to the main board and two 2-pin connectors for the battery.[1]
NVRAM battery
[edit | edit source]The 370 has 32 KB of NVRAM.[4] It is backed by a CR2032 cell in an accessible compartment on the bottom of the player, so the cell can be changed without opening the case.[5] retrostuff's low-level test listing includes an NVRAM test for the 32 KB part.[1]
PAL/NTSC switch
[edit | edit source]The video standard is selected by switch SW102 on the main board; changing it resets the player.[1] On retrostuff's unit the switch reset the player but made no lasting contact, so the player stayed in NTSC, its default. Nothing inside was bent or missing. Cleaning all the contacts and re-greasing the small spring at the top restored switching to PAL.[1]
Boards
[edit | edit source]| Board | Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 6870H-10HAA | Main board | Processor, video, MPEG and CD electronics; power switch SW101, PAL/NTSC switch SW102, lid switch SW301 |
| 6870HA10LAA | Power board | Regulators, battery connectors, 30-way connector to the main board |
| 6870HE10LAA | Infrared receiver board | 6-way connector to the main board |
| 6870H-10YAA, 6870HD10LAA, 6870HC10LAA | Display | Drive the Unipac UP661A-1 LCD panel |
[1] The CD mechanism is a Sanyo SF-92.5.[2]
Related pages
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 retrostuff, "Philips CDI 370 Portable CD-i Player" (work-in-progress page, revised 18 October 2026, retrieved 2026-10-20): boards and markings, connectors, low-level test menu, SW102 repair.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 retrostuff, "Modifications for Philips CD-i Players" (retrieved 2026-10-20): sections "GoldStar / LG (portable players)" and the power supply note for the CDI 370 and other portable GoldStar / LG players (21 V at 1.7 A and 5 V; notebook supply, 18 V on the battery terminals, USB-C and USB-A charger solutions).
- ↑ RetroVideoGames.de, "Philips CD-i 370 Power Supply Pinout" (retrieved 2026-10-21).
- ↑ ICDIA, "Comparison table of all Philips portable CD-i players" (retrieved 2026-10-20): row CDI 370/00 (32 KB NVRAM).
- ↑ retrostuff, "NVRAM+RTC Solutions for Philips CD-i Players" (retrieved 2026-10-20): CR2032 in an accessible compartment on the bottom of portable GoldStar players such as the GPI-1200M and CDI 370.